"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

#MerfolkMonday: the Underwater Bells of Whitby Abbey

A story in Whitby — a seaside town located on the North Yorkshire coast in the North East of England, between Scarborough and Redcar — tells of the day Henry VIII decided to send his men to wreck the local Abbey (yeah, it’s the Dracula one, I talked about it here). The King’s men stripped the Abbey of its riches, and this included the bells, as the King wanted them transported to London either to sell them or to melt them and forge new cannons for his warships.

The people of Whitby didn’t take it well.

The King’s men carefully carried the bells down the 199 Abbey steps, while people in town were throwing silent curses at them, loaded them on the ship bound for London and… the ship sank. Some people say it was a favour from the local merfolk, though I find it improbable since the other legend connecting Whitby to mermaids is one where two exhausted mermaids are captured after a storm, held captive and almost stoned to death.
Anyway, the ship sank with the bells and it’s said that you can still hear the ringing of the Whitby Abbey bells underneath the waves just off the Black Nab in the North Sea. Whether hearing them is a good or a bad omen I couldn’t tell you, but one can easily guess.

books and literature

The Ghost Tower

Remember Edogawa Ranpo? The Japanese author of horror and thrilller who gave us the strange and haunting Panorama Island. After reading the graphic novel, I read the novel last summer, and apparently it became tradition that I read Japanese horror when I’m on the traditional

Read More »
books and literature

Werewolves Wednesday: The Wolf-Leader (24)

A werewolf story by Alexandre Dumas père. Chapter XXIV: Hunting Down the Were-Wolf Thibault had got well ahead of the dogs, thanks to the precaution he had taken of making good his escape at the first note of the bloodhound. For some time he heard no

Read More »
architecture, engineering and construction

Poetry Reading List for Architects

Why Look to Poets for Lessons on Space? Architecture, as a discipline, has long claimed dominion over the notion of space. From Vitruvius’ triad of firmitas, utilitas, venustas to Le Corbusier’s declaration of the house as “a machine for living in”, architects have positioned themselves

Read More »
Share on LinkedIn
Throw on Reddit
Roll on Tumblr
Mail it
No Comments

Post A Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RELATED POSTS

The Ghost Tower

Remember Edogawa Ranpo? The Japanese author of horror and thrilller who gave us the strange and haunting Panorama Island. After reading the graphic novel, I read the novel last summer, and apparently it became tradition that I read Japanese horror when I’m on the traditional

Read More

Werewolves Wednesday: The Wolf-Leader (24)

A werewolf story by Alexandre Dumas père. Chapter XXIV: Hunting Down the Were-Wolf Thibault had got well ahead of the dogs, thanks to the precaution he had taken of making good his escape at the first note of the bloodhound. For some time he heard no

Read More

Poetry Reading List for Architects

Why Look to Poets for Lessons on Space? Architecture, as a discipline, has long claimed dominion over the notion of space. From Vitruvius’ triad of firmitas, utilitas, venustas to Le Corbusier’s declaration of the house as “a machine for living in”, architects have positioned themselves

Read More